Show and Tell Web 2.0

BLOG,Nuggets April 3, 2012 11:43

By PenTales Pundit Elise Nardin, Zurich, Switzerland

Do you remember your first Show and Tell ever? Age 7, I brought my hamster McFly – yes, like Marty McFly in Back to the Future. I thought Marty was cool and that his name sounded quite sleek too. I was discovering the English language at the time. Let’s get back to you: What did you bring to class and what did you say about it?

My mother, a primary school teacher, invited a 89-year-old former teacher to come to class and tell her first graders how it was to be growing up in the 30s and going to school having to write with an ink pen, sitting on hard wooden benches and wearing a uniform. He loved teaching and was thrilled to be sharing his memories with kids 80 years younger than him. 80 years, that’s 80x Christmas, 80x Halloween, 29,219 days, it’s 2.524554e+10 humming bird flaps. See where I’m going?

Right, this time lapse, whether you want to measure it in humming bird flaps, minutes or months, or memories. Who best suited to tell stories and share memories than our grandparents and our old neighbors?

Life Lessons is about sharing nuggets of wisdom. We’re also pushing seniors to give their voice on the Web 2.0. Here is another way to combine both. History or civic education teachers reading, this is for you! Why not organize a project around Life Lessons and get your students out there in their neighborhood or with their family and collect some words of wisdom? With so many stories out there, I am convinced that you can tap into several civic education or history topics. History is about reflecting about the past. Older people can reflect about that time a big thing happened, and that for every decade, from the 30s to 2012. Why not have a different kind of ‘show and tell’ for once? We’ve set a submission form to make it easier for everyone to share. We’d be thrilled to feature your students’ collections! Email us at writepentales@gmail.com